Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14 eBook

In logical order the formulation of “First Principles”
should have been followed by the application of them
to Inorganic Nature. This great division of Mr.
Spencer’s subject is passed over, however; partly
because, even without it, the scheme is too extensive
to be carried out in the lifetime of one man; and
partly because the interpretation of Organic Nature,
after the proposed method, is of more immediate importance.
Before noting how Mr. Spencer applies his fundamental
principles to the interpretation of the phenomena of
life, it may be well to put before the reader’s
eye the “formula of evolution” in the
author’s own language: “Evolution
is an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation
of motion; during which the matter passes from an
indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent
heterogeneity; and during which the retained motion
undergoes a parallel transformation.” This
law of evolution is equally applicable to all orders
of phenomena,—­“astronomic, geologic,
biologic, psychologic, sociologic, etc.,”—­since
these are all component parts of one cosmos, though
disguised from one another by conventional groupings.
It is obvious that, so long as evolution is merely
established by induction, it belongs, not to philosophy,
but to science. To belong to philosophy it must
be deduced from the persistence of force. Mr.
Spencer holds that this can be done. For any
finite aggregate, being unequally exposed to surrounding
forces, will become more diverse in structure, every
differentiated part will become the parent of further
differences; at the same time, dissimilar units in
the aggregate tend to separate, and those which are
similar, to cluster together ("segregation"); and this
subdivision and dissipation of forces, so long as there
are any forces unbalanced by opposite forces, must
end at last in rest; the penultimate stage of this
process “in which the extremest multiformity
and most complex moving equilibrium are established,”
being the highest conceivable state. The various
derivative laws of phenomenal changes are thus deducible
from the persistence of force. It remains to apply
them to inorganic, organic, and superorganic existences.
The detailed treatment of inorganic evolution is omitted,
as we have said, from Spencer’s plan, and he
proceeds to interpret “the phenomena of life,
mind, and society in terms of Matter, Motion, and Force.”

IV.

The first volume of the “Principles of Biology”
consists of three parts, the first of which sets forth
the data of biology, including those general truths
of physics and chemistry with which rational biology
must start. The second part is allotted to the
inductions of biology, or, in other words, to a statement
of the leading generalizations which naturalists,
physiologists, and comparative anatomists have established.
The third and final part of the first volume of the
“Principles of Biology” deals with the
speculation commonly known as “the development
hypothesis,” and considers its a priori
and a posteriori evidences.